Please Don't Leave Me
by TB's LMC
Summary: Inspired by an awesome song by Pink, a Nanny fan from WAY back just HAS to dabble with her favorite couple of all time. Niles says something then C.C. says something then...well, you'll see.


_**DISCLAIMER**__: I haven't written a __Nanny__ story in more years than I can count. Recently I went back to read some of what I'd written so long ago. Then on the way to work I heard a song on the radio and instantaneously saw my favorite duo, C.C. and Niles, and just had to give this a try. So hopefully I haven't lost my touch where these two are concerned…they are still, after all these years, my favorite comedic duo of all time._

_Note: This takes place after Niles and C.C. slept together, but before the end of the show._

**PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME**

By Edmonton Writer

C.C. turned and threw the pillow at the sofa hard as she could. She could feel her blood boiling. The swish of the door told her he was coming. She fumed. How could he have said that to Maxwell's backer? How could he have-?

"What are you still doing here, woman?"

Her eyes flashed. "You ignorant, self-serving, loathsome son of a bitch," she growled.

He at least had the good grace to look surprised. When he didn't speak, C.C. stomped toward him. Not one inch of him moved.

"How could you have told Blackburn that, Niles? How _could_ you?"

"Blackburn?"

"Yes, Blackburn!" she spat. "Maxwell's backer for the new _Love Boat_ musical he's doing!"

Niles rolled his eyes. "_That_ will be a disaster." Nonchalantly he pulled out his feather duster and started on the piano.

"Well thanks to you, the ship sank before it ever hit the water!"

He stopped and turned to face her. "What are you talking about?"

Doing her best imitation of Niles…which was actually quite impressive…she intoned, "Well, when she gets out of bed with the butler I'll make sure she hops into it with you. She was saying how she couldn't wait to seal the deal with skin."

Niles burst out laughing. Her imitation actually _was_ good! But C.C. wasn't laughing. She didn't even smile. In fact, she looked like she wanted to stick his feather duster where the sun never shone.

"That's nothing, Miss Babcock, really. We were having a brandy and joking around, that's all." Then he frowned. "How on Earth did you hear about that, anyway?"

"I heard about it when Maxwell called me into the office this morning," she seethed, grabbing her purse off the coffee table. "I _heard_ about it when he sat there looking like he wanted to jump over his desk and throttle me."

"Nothing new there," Niles mumbled.

She fished in her purse and pulled out her keys before stepping forward to jab him in the chest with her index finger. "I _heard_ about it when Maxwell told me Blackburn had been so insulted at the idea that he would sleep with a business partner just to get a sweet deal that he told him he'd never back anything he produced ever again, and would make sure every other potential backer in Manhattan knew it!"

Niles' face went white as C.C. stomped to the front door. As she placed her hand on the doorknob, her voice became quiet. She didn't turn around to face him as she said her final words.

"I _heard_ about it, Niles, when Maxwell subsequently fired me."

The door swung open and a heartbeat later, slammed closed.

Maxwell Sheffield chose that very moment to enter the living room and inquire about breakfast. It was unlike Niles to be so late with it and he was in a bit of a mood as a result.

Niles turned slowly to face his employer. "Did you fire Miss Babcock?"

"What? Oh, yes. Wait, how the hell do you know about that already?"

"She just left. Why did you fire her? What did she do?"

"It wasn't what she did, it was what she said."

"I don't understand, sir."

"Niles, not for nothing, old boy, but it really is none of your business. I've already put some feelers out for a new business partner. I'll be expecting a couple of potential guests this afternoon, one of them being Charles Blackburn, so do see that the house is tidy."

Niles watched him go. Then he turned back toward the closed front door. What had really happened? He had to find out. Maxwell Sheffield's breakfast be damned, something wasn't quite right about this and he _had_ to know what it was.

(=(=(=(=(=(=(=(N-C)=)=)=)=)=)=)=)

C.C. relaxed on her love seat, allowing the sensations of freedom to wash over her. She was glad she'd seen Niles before leaving the Sheffield house for the last time. Wondering if she'd ever see him again made her feel sad so she shut that down immediately and changed gears.

She sipped her vodka on the rocks, mulling over her options. In the back of her mind she'd always had her sights on Andrew Lloyd Webber. Well, he didn't need her money, but maybe he wouldn't mind some of her contacts and the name she'd made for herself in the Broadway business. It would also give him a reason to gloat at Maxwell.

Which she wouldn't mind, she reasoned. He had no right to fire her without letting her even mount a defense. Yet he had, she thought, as her mind turned once more to sadder things. He _had_ given her the chance to speak up. But she hadn't.

A sharp rapping at her front door startled her, almost causing her to spill her drink. She placed it on the coffee table, licking the drop that had gotten on her hand, and crossed to look through the peephole. "Niles?" she said aloud when she saw his face. She unlocked and opened the door. "What are you doing here?"

He walked in and whirled to face her as the door swung quietly closed. "What am I doing here?"

"Don't ask me, you're the one who barged in." She crossed to pick up her drink. "Go away, Niles, I have important things to do."

"I want to know why Mr. Sheffield fired you."

"Why do you care? I'm outta your hair for good now. It's what you always wanted from the day we met, isn't it?"

"N—I-that's not the point. He won't tell me what's going on."

"And you're such a Yenta that you just _have_ to know."

"Something like that," he agreed, losing a wee bit of his pride.

"I'm sure Maxwell told you this, but it's none of your business."

"Well, if it's none of my business, why did you tell me what you did before you left?" he asked, removing his trench coat and laying it on a nearby chair.

Closing her eyes, C.C. plopped back down in her spot on the love seat and shrugged. "I just wanted you to know that was the last time I was walking out the door, that's all. I figured you ought to be made aware you'd need a new punching bag."

"I appreciate your kindness," he said sarcastically, "but something more is going on here. Something that neither you nor Mr. Sheffield are letting on about. Now, I'm part of this and that gives me the right to know!"

"You're part of it?" she chuckled. "You could say that."

"Dammit, woman, put that drink down and tell me what happened!" he bellowed, yanking the glass out of her hand and downing its remaining contents in one gulp. Why was she so calm? How could she be so _calm_?

"Niles, sit down before you pull something," she said, rising and grabbing her glass. She crossed to the small bar near her front door and filled it with ice and vodka. She took a sip and turned to find he'd sat on the love seat right next to where she'd been.

That wouldn't do. She stayed standing by the bar. She couldn't allow herself to get to close to him. Strange things happened between them when they got near in proximity. Up to and including embarrassing bedroom scenes.

She felt herself blush and cleared her throat. "Now what is it you want to know? I told you: Maxwell fired me. End of story."

"That might be the end, but you forgot to tell me the middle."

Sighing, C.C. took a few steps closer as Niles rose to his feet. "I told you, Niles, dammit. Maxwell lost his biggest repeat backer ever because of something I said."

Raising an eyebrow, Niles' eyes gleamed. "Ah-ha. No, you didn't tell me that. You told me it was because of something _I_ said to Blackburn. Not something _you_ said." Although, he thought, Mr. Sheffield had said as much.

Her blush turned into an all-out crimson flush. It crept up her neck to the crown of her head and her eyes began darting nervously around the room.

"Fess up, Babcock. You tried to blame this on me, but it was _your_ fault you got fired, wasn't it?"

He'd moved just a little too close. "Yes, fine, all right, it was my fault. _Now_ will you leave?"

"No." He reached out and grabbed her arm as she turned to head for the kitchen. "Tell me, C.C."

He'd said her name. Damn him. Damn him all to hell. He was touching her. She could feel herself begin to tremble.

She sighed, but wouldn't look at him. "Blackburn approached me the day after what you said to him."

Niles froze.

"Let's just say," she said, daring a glance into his beautiful blue eyes, "that he took what you said quite literally."

"What?" he choked. "He…did what?"

"He told me that he was sick and tired of financing plays and musicals that never had a snowball's chance in hell of even breaking even with old Andrew's."

C.C. pulled away from him and made it into the kitchen, where she leaned against the counter staring into her swirling icy vodka. Niles came to stand in the entryway, watching her intently.

"He's such a slimy son of a bitch," she continued quietly. "He said that the night you made your comments about me, he was ready to tell Maxwell which bridge he could jump off, that he was moving on to bigger fish."

"And?"

"And then he got an idea." C.C. sighed deeply. "He would back the _Love Boat_ musical if I would show him certain…perks…throughout its run."

Niles turned as red as the nail polish on C.C.'s hands. "He did _what_?"

C.C. looked up at him sadly. "Niles, you don't think when you say things. He thought you were serious; he thought I was a slut who would do this because I was Maxwell's partner. He thought he'd have a bed buddy whenever he wanted and I had no choice but to do what he wanted me to."

Niles' jaw dropped. "You _slept_ with him?"

"I…I started to."

"_Started_ to?" Niles moved forward and looked as if he were about to grab her. "How could you even _think_ of doing that?"

"Well what the _hell else_ do I have, Niles? Every now and then when you get frisky I get laid and that's supposed to be _enough_ for me? All I really had was my job, and we _really_ needed Blackburn's bucks to fund Maxwell's next piece of crap!"

"What the hell-?"

"And you go telling Mr. Big Bucks that I'll sleep with anyone, so now he's expecting it and if I don't, Maxwell loses the money and we all go broke, is that how I was supposed to play it? Is it?"

She pushed past him and into her bedroom, trying to slam the door shut. But Niles made it there before she could and shoved the door back open, nearly knocking her over. "It's more than when I get frisky, and you know it!"

"Niles, dammit, this isn't _about_ you! Well, it is, but it isn't! This is about you only because _you_ were the one who said what you said!"

"It was a _joke_!"

"Well, Blackburn didn't think so. And when I wouldn't go through with it, he called Maxwell and told him I'd come on to him and _he'd _been the one who declined and that I went nuts on him and therefore he was never backing Maxwell ever again and was telling everyone else in the community not to either."

"Oh, dear God."

"That's right, Niles. It's all your fault, is that what you want to hear? Is it? You don't care about _anyone_ but yourself! This is about _you_ not getting laid anymore and _you_ not having someone to belittle anymore and _you_ _you you_! Well, I'm _glad_ I got fired because that means you can't hurt me anymore, you can't play games with my head anymore and you can't _ever_ get me to sleep with you again!"

"But Miss Bab…C.C., I didn't—"

She downed the entire glass of vodka in one swig as he backed away. "And let me tell you something, you cheap, pathetic excuse for a handmaid." She narrowed her eyes and growled, "You were so bad in bed I sometimes fantasized about my _vibrator_ when we were having sex!"

She slammed the bedroom door shut on him. He heard the lock click and knew it was over. He had screwed up. Whatever she'd said to him, he deserved it. Maybe…maybe he could talk to Mr. Sheffield; tell him it was all his fault, not C.C.'s. Tell him what _really_ happened.

"Go away, Niles!" he heard her yell from behind the door. "Get out of my _life_ before you ruin it any further!"

Without a word, he was out the door.

Silence reigned in her home. After a while she unlocked the bedroom door, eyes red from crying, tears still streaming down her face. He'd left his trench coat in her chair and she rushed to it, sinking to the floor as she let it fall over her. She breathed him in, the scent of him. She had protected him and it had cost her everything.

She cried out into the soft fabric on the inside of his London Fog, screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOO!" at the top of her lungs, caring not one bit if anyone heard her.

_I don't know if I can yell any louder  
How many times I've kicked you outta here?  
Or said something insulting?  
_

Had she hurt him with her words? Good if she had. Because her heart was breaking. Some part of her had thought maybe somehow they could keep seeing each other even after she went to work for someone else, but deep down she knew that wouldn't happen because no matter that the entire thing started out as his own fault, she couldn't keep from lashing out at him, trying so very hard to hurt him so he'd bleed as much as she.

_I can be so mean when I wanna be  
I am capable of really anything  
I can cut you into pieces  
But my heart is broken  
_

But dammit, she didn't want him to leave, not like he had. What she'd said wasn't necessary, she was just…it was love, and she knew and he knew it and they both knew it, but they kept treating it like nothing but the occasionally torrid affair. The whole Sheffield house knew they were sleeping together off and on, they made quite the spectacle of themselves after all, but it was all in good fun and not at all serious.

Right?

_Please don't leave me  
Please don't leave me  
I always say how I don't need you  
But it's always gonna come right back to this  
Please, don't leave me  
_  
Sure, it had all started with Niles, and then with Blackburn being such a pig…but in the end it was C.C.'s own fault that Maxwell didn't realize the truth. She hadn't told Maxwell what Niles had said to Blackburn in the first place; she had let Maxwell believe it was all _her_ doing because she didn't want to see Niles lose _his_ job. C.C. didn't need a job; she had more money than the Rockefellers, or at least, very nearly. But Niles _did_ need his job, and C.C. found she just couldn't bear to be the cause of him losing it.

But then from being chivalrous to saying the things she had to him just now. Only he could do this to her. Damn that Niles.

_How did I become so obnoxious?  
What is it with you that makes me act like this?  
I've never been this nasty  
_

It had started out as slinging insults back and forth like so much mud in field; like children who are mean and nasty to each other but don't _really_ want to hurt each other because they just don't have it in them. It was always a battle of wits, but it had gone from that to more. Much, much more.

This time, though, she'd meant it. She'd _meant_ to hurt him.

_Can't you tell that this is all just a contest?  
The one that wins will be the one that hits the hardest  
But baby I don't mean it  
I mean it, I promise  
_

This was all so damn confusing. She'd done the right thing but then she'd done the wrong thing.

_Please don't leave me  
Oh please don't leave me  
I always say how I don't need you  
But it's always gonna come right back to this  
Please, don't leave me  
_  
"Please don't leave me," she whispered, burying her face in his coat again, wrapping it around her like his arms would be if she hadn't been so awful to him. "Please, Niles." She heard a sound and raised her head.

_I forgot to say out loud how beautiful you really are to me  
_

He was standing in the doorway looking positively miserable.

Good.

_I cannot be without, you're my perfect little punching bag_

"I left my coat." His voice cracked like he was sixteen years old.

"I have it."

_And I need you, I'm sorry  
_

"I can see that."

_Please, please don't leave me_

"Niles, I'm—"

"C.C., please—"

_Baby please don't leave me  
_

"I have to go."

_No, don't leave me_

She struggled to her feet. "It's my fault."

Desperate now.

_Please don't leave me no no no_

"I can't…you don't need me. I've done nothing but hurt you." He reached for his trench coat.

_You say I don't need you  
But it's always gonna come right back_

"That's not true." She pulled it away from him.

"You've said it yourself. And you were right."

She shook her head, clutching the waterproof fabric.

_It's gonna come right back to this  
Please, don't leave me_

"Niles, I—I'm sorry."

"For what?"

_Please don't leave me, oh no no no_

"I have to go."

He grabbed the coat, tearing it from her clutches.

_I always say how I don't need you_

"I'm sorry," he mumbled, slowly moving toward the door. "I'm so sorry."

_But it's always gonna come right back to this_

"He told me what you did, C.C. You should have told me that you protected me. I want to hold you and throttle you all at the same time." He turned to look at her, perched now on the edge of the chair. "But I'm not sure I have the right to do either."

_Please don't leave me_

She smiled. "We're poison to each other, Niles."

He smiled that beautifully crooked smile of his, hesitant, still unsure. "I know. We always have been."

She rose and crossed to him. The coat swooshed softly to the floor. "You don't…I didn't mean the things I said…I just—"

"I know," he said, covering her lips with his hand. When she puckered and gave his fingers a small kiss, his senses reeled. "Baby," he whispered, the word he'd called her only twice before, the word that had elicited such emotion in both of them it had frightened him out of saying it ever again.

"Baby," she repeated. "Please, please don't leave me."

"Never," he breathed and captured her mouth in a kiss. "Never."

_*'Please Don't Leave Me' belongs to Pink, not me. I just found it really inspiring! Look it up on You Tube if you don't know it, it's worth it!  
_


End file.
